Hanyang University ERICA-Kookmin University-Korea Robot Industry Association Successfully Conclude Hackathon at Co-Week Academy

30 Students from Intelligent Robots and Future Automobiles Innovation Convergence College Participate, 6 Teams Awarded

On the 6th, at the awards ceremony of the 'IoT Modular Robot Utilization AI Autonomous Driving Mobility Hackathon' jointly hosted by Hanyang University ERICA Intelligent Robot Innovation Convergence College Project Group, Kookmin University Future Automobile Innovation Convergence College Project Group, and the Korea Robot Industry Association, the award presenters and recipients are taking a commemorative photo. (Photo by Hanyang University)

The Intelligent Robot Innovation Convergence University Project Group at Hanyang University ERICA (Director Park Tae-joon) announced that it successfully concluded the 'IoT Modular Robot-based AI Autonomous Driving Mobility Hackathon (hereinafter referred to as the Hackathon),' jointly held with the Future Automobile Innovation Convergence University Project Group at Kookmin University (Director Shin Sung-hwan) and the Korea Robot Industry Association (Chairman Kang Cheol-ho) over three days from July 4 to 6.

This hackathon was part of the 2nd CO-Week Academy program hosted by the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea, marking the first collaborative project between the Intelligent Robot and Future Automobile Innovation Convergence Universities and the Korea Robot Industry Association.

On July 3, Hanyang University ERICA, Kookmin University, and the Korea Robot Industry Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to foster talent and educational cooperation in the advanced fields of intelligent robots and future automobiles.

During the three-day hackathon, participants learned Python programming, motor control, sensor utilization, AI development environment setup, voice recognition and conversion, AI video recognition training, and robot control. Teams of two worked together to design hardware and present their completed projects according to assigned missions in a competitive format.

Through the hackathon, participants gained an understanding of robotics using AI and IoT modular robots and practiced coding from basic to advanced Python applications. Additionally, they enhanced the quality of their projects by staying at Konkuk University dormitories and working on building AI autonomous driving vehicles/mobility and traffic management systems using wireless cameras.

At the awards ceremony following the hackathon, the first prize was awarded to the Cat Team (Kim Chan-woo, Park Ga-eul), who created a customized robot for cats, receiving high marks for creativity and completeness. The second prize went to the Mobile Trash Can Team (Yeo Han-bin, Jeon Jin), who developed a mobile smart trash can, and the K-Signal Team (Kim Jae-yoon, Kim Sung-hyun), who created a car that signals traffic lights. The third prize was awarded to the Robot Team (Choi Min-soo, Nam Sung-min), who built a robotic arm; the DP Team (Park Ha-young, Park Sung-jin), who developed a board game robot using AI cameras and deep learning; and the Golla Team (Kwon Tae-o, Lee Dong-hyun), who created an automatic logistics and sorting robot using infrared sensors.

Park Ga-eul of the Cat Team said, “It was a meaningful time to understand the principles of AI autonomous driving mobility using Anaconda.”

Park Tae-joon, Director of the Hanyang University ERICA Project Group, stated, “I hope this competition provided students with a valuable experience to share diverse and innovative ideas and solve problems. It seems that students divided their roles well and did their best in their tasks, leading to good results.”

Shin Sung-hwan, Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of the Kookmin University Project Group, said, “This hackathon is the first collaborative case following the tripartite MOU, and it is meaningful that students could directly experience the synergy effect of excellent educational content held by each institution. I am pleased that the hackathon was conducted solidly with active student participation.” He added, “We will continue to strive to develop programs that enhance students’ potential to contribute to advanced fields.”

Jo Young-hoon, Executive Vice President of the Korea Robot Industry Association, remarked, “Through collaboration between the Robot Industry Human Resources Development Council (Robot SC) and Innovation Convergence Universities, outstanding science and engineering students have had a great opportunity to receive robot convergence education.” He added, “We will continue to firmly establish the foundation for talent development in the robot industry and do our best at Robot SC to resolve the mismatch in manpower supply and demand between industry and academia.”